Three other men, including the winning team’s coach Jorge Vilda and former RFEF official Albert Luque, have also been charged with coercion, with the public prosecutor demanding sentences of 18 months for each of them if found guilty.
Answering questions from the public prosecutor and defence lawyers, Hermoso described the kiss she received from Rubiales after the 1-0 win over England as a complete shock.
“I knew that it was my boss who was kissing me and that is something that shouldn’t happen in any walk of life.”
The prosecutor asked the 34-year-old midfielder if Rubiales had asked her if she had agreed to the kiss, something he has said publicly and is expected to argue during the trial.
Rubiales has claimed he said “a peck?” in reference to a small kiss as he embraced Hermoso.
“At that moment I neither heard nor understood anything. The next thing was when he put his hands on my ears and the act of giving me the kiss on the mouth,” Hermoso replied.
Asked if she would have agreed had she been asked by Rubiales for a kiss on the mouth, Hermoso said simply “no”.
The footballer said she had told family and friends that she had not consented to or enjoyed the kiss, telling her brother during on-the-pitch celebrations that it had been “disgusting” and responding to surprise from team-mates by explaining that she had been given no choice in the matter.
Rubiales sat impassively as his defence lawyer asked why Hermoso had not recoiled physically from Rubiales after the kiss, and had patted him on the side as she moved along the victory line-up. She also asked Hermoso if she had ever sent a kiss emoji to Rubiales during their sporadic text message chats.
Hermoso explained that she had not wanted anything to stand in the way of the celebration after the achievement of winning the World Cup, the first by a Spanish women’s team.
“Getting the medal, being on the podium, this was something I had seen on TV and I couldn’t imagine anything other than celebrating and singing with my team-mates.”
She explained however, that the kiss moment had “not left her head for a single moment” and that there was no contradiction between her desire not to spoil her moment of celebration with distress at what had happened.
Hermoso described how Rubiales spoke to her outside the dressing room after the pitch-side celebrations and tried to get her to join him in issuing a joint response to social media comments on the kiss.
Hermoso refused, but said that RFEF officials continued to pressure her to sign up to a public statement that the kiss had been consensual and that she had not been offended in any way.
She said the team bus on the way to Sydney airport was halted and she was asked to get out to discuss a statement with RFEF media officials, with whom she said she refused to cooperate.
During a players’ holiday in Ibiza paid for by the RFEF in the week after the World Cup, Hermoso said that the pressure continued with two federation officials, including Luque, attempting to persuade her to publicly exonerate Rubiales’s behaviour.
She said it was suggested to her that her lack of co-operation would have negative consequences on her future with the national team.
The trial is expected to last until mid-February with Rubiales and his co-defendants due to take the stand next week.
In a separate case, Rubiales is being investigated by Spanish authorities over allegations of corruption during his five-year RFEF presidency, including alleged fixing of contracts and money laundering.
